The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-06-18
How Men Die in Battle.


tions of a Private" is this chapter,
which cannot fail to be of greater in
terest to the average reader than the
war stories which are written from
the standpoint of men who we're not
In the fight. or. being there. treat of
the struggle In general and tactical
way:
Almost every death on the battle.
field Is different. And the manner of
the death depends on the wound and
on the man. whether he Is cOwardly
or brave, whether his vitality is large
or small, whether he Is man of
active imagination, or Is dull of in
tellect, whether he is of nervous or
sympathetic temperament. instance
deaths and wounds that saw in
Grants last campaign.
On the second day of the battle of
the Wilderness, when fought as an
infantry soldier, / saw more men
killed and wounded than l did before
or after the same time. l knew but
few Of the men In the regiment in
whose ranks I stood, but I learned
the Christian names of some of them.
The man who stood next to me on
my right was called Will. He was
cool, brave and intelligent. In the
morning when the second corps was
advancing and driving Hill's SOL
diers slowly back, was Hurried. He
noticed 1t and steadied my nerves by
saying kindly: "Don't fire 50 fast.
This fight will last all day. Don't
hurry. Cover your man before you
pull the trigger. Take 1t easy, my
boy, take 1t easy, and your cartridges
will last the longer" This man
fought effectively. During the day I
had learned to look up to this excel
lent soldier and lean on him. To.
ward evening. as we were being
slowly driven back TO the Brock road
by Longstreet's men, we made
stand. I was behind a tree firing,
with my rifle barrel resting on the
stub Of a limb, Will was standing
by my side but in the open. He, with
a groan, doubled up, and dropped on
the ground at my feet. He looked
up at me. His face was pale. He
gasped for breath a few times, and
then said family: "That ends me. 1
am shot through the bowels" 1 said:
"Crawl to the rear. We are not far
from the intrenchment along the
Brock road" I saw him sit up. and
instinctively saw him reach for his
rife, which had fallen from his hands
as he fell. Again I spoke to him to
20 to the rear. He looked at me and
said impatiently: "I tell you that 1
am as good as dead. There is no use
In fooling with me. l shall stay
here" Then he pitched forward,
dead. shot again and through the
head. We fell back before Long
streets soldiers and left Will lying
in windrow of dead men.
When we got into the Brock road
fntrenchments man few files of
my left dropped dead, shot just above
the right eye. He did not groan or
sigh or make the slightest physical
movement, except that his chest
heaved few times. The life went
out of his face instantly. leaving it
without particle of expression. It
was plastic, and, as the facial muscles
contracted it took many queer shapes.
When this mans body became cold
end his face hardened it was horribly
distorted, as though he had suffered
intensely. ANY person who had not
seen him killed would have said that
he had endured supreme agony be-
fore death released him. A few min
ates after he fell another man. little
farther to the left, fell with appar-
emily q precisely similar wound. He
was Strengthened out and lived for
over an hour. He did not speak.
Simply lay on his back, and his broad
chest rose and fell, slowly at first, and
then faster and faster. and more and
more feebly, until he was dead. And
his face hardened, and it was almost
terrifying in its painful distortion. 1
have seen dead soldiers faces which
were wreathed in smiles, and heard
their comrades say that they had
died happy. do not believe that
the face of dead soldier, lying on a
battlefield. ever truthfully indicates
the mental or physical anguish or
peacefulness Of mind which he suf-
fered or enjoyed before his death.
The face is plastic after death, and as
the facial muscles cool and contract.
they draw the face into many shapes,
Sometimes the dead smile, again they
stare with CLASSY eyes and lolling
tongues aud dreadfully distorted Wis
ages at you. 1t goes for nothing. One
death was as painless as the other.
After LOngstreet's soldiers had
n ~